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Democracy requires plain language

At the 2009 Conference of Plain Language Association in Sydney, we learned of an Australian (Victorian Electoral Commission) and a U.S. (http://vote.nist.gov/instructiongap.pdf) project on making voting easier and more accessible.

Today I learned of the European interest in this:
http://www.eupolitix.com/no_cache/latestnews/news-article/newsarticle/disengagement-threatens-eu/

?Communicating Europe to citizens is an effort which not only constitutes a responsibility of European institutions and member states, but also constitutes the right of citizens to be informed,? the EU justice chief Antonio Vitorino claimed. ?Only informed citizens can fully participate in democracy and are able to exercise their citizenship.?

Irish Europe minister Dick Roche outlined a "basic" five point plan to reinvigorate a jaded EU citizenry.
?The introduction of plain language initiatives/anti-jargon measures; the simplification and improvement of forms; the establishment of a form audit agency; the simplification of legal texts; the development of a [EU]-wide code of administrative practice.?

And I was pleased to learn this month that my provincial government is working on this also.

Full post as published by Building Rapport on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).